"He died mentally for two years before he died physically.
Every ounce of dignity was taken away from him."--Janice Roach, whose
14-year-old son, Matthew Goodman, died in February 2002 while at Bancroft
School, a New Jersey institution. Matthew's Law, a measure designed to limit
the use of restraints and seclusion for people with developmental disabilities
and traumatic brain injuries, is named for the teen who had autism.

BUCKINGHAM, PENNSYLVANIA--On February 5 of
this year, Matthew Goodman was rushed to Children's Hospital in Philadelphia
from Bancroft School in Haddonfield, New Jersey.

He died of pneumonia, respiratory distress and blood poisoning the
next day -- just one month before his 15th birthday.

Matthew, who had autism, was placed six years ago in Bancroft, an
institution housing 60 children with "severe behavior disorders". Two years ago
he was made to wear stiff arm restraints designed to keep him from hurting
himself.

Matthew's mother, Janice Roach, believes the residential school's
use of restraints and sedation weakened her son's immune system and led
directly to his death.

"He died mentally for two years before he died physically. Every
ounce of dignity was taken away from him," Roach told the Intelligencer.

Now Bancroft School is under scrutiny by authorities in New Jersey
because of Matthew's death and other complaints. Last month the New Jersey
Department of Human Services announced it would not allow children to be placed
at Bancroft, after staff took 10 minutes to evacuate the facility during an
unannounced fire drill.

The facility is also being scrutinized by Central Bucks School
District in Pennsylvania, which last year paid Bancroft $454,000 to house
Matthew and another child. Districts in Bucks and nearby Montgomery counties
are looking at the feasibility of moving any children to programs outside the
state rather than serving their needs closer to home.

HADDONFIELD, NEW JERSEY--Officials at the New Jersey Department of
Health and Senior Services have fined Bancroft NeuroHealth of Haddonfield
$127,000 for violating laws meant to protect the residents housed in the
institution.

Department officials said Monday that this was the largest fine
ever assessed against a long-term care facility.

Bancroft is a 66-bed facility housing people with developmental
disabilities and brain injuries.

The violations included two cases of physical abuse and three
cases of sexual abuse. Officials said Bancroft staff failed to properly
administer medications, to call for emergency medical personnel in a medical
emergency and to report allegations of abuse and neglect. The state also
claimed staff members were poorly trained, that some did not even have licenses
to practice in the state, and failed to follow treatment plans, or to provide
residents with nutritious food.

"The violations are very serious and they are quite numerous,"
Human Services spokeswoman Pam Ronan said.

Ronan added that many of the problems were documented in
Bancroft's files, but had not been reported to the state as required by
law.

The health department will hold a hearing on August 1. Bancroft
spokesman Paul Healy said the facility will makes its case at that time.

Camden County prosecutors are investigating the death of
14-year-old Matthew Goodman, a resident of Bancroft that had autism. Goodman,
who was from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, died February 6 from pneumonia,
respiratory distress and blood poisoning.

Last month the Department of Human Services announced it would not
allow children to be placed at Bancroft, after staff took 10 minutes to
evacuate the facility during an unannounced fire drill.

HADDONFIELD, NEW JERSEY--Videotape from a
residential facility run by Bancroft NeuroHealth provided state officials with
enough evidence to call the treatment of one patient there physically abusive.
That ruling overturns a previous one that registered concern but couldn't
substantiate abuse.

The resident, Matthew Goodman, a 14-year-old from Bucks County,
Pa., died in February while in Bancroft's care.

CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY--The following three
paragraphs are excerpts from a brief item in the Courier Post:

A former staff member at Bancroft NeuroHealth in Haddonfield
pleaded guilty Monday to one count of abusing and neglecting a teenager in the
facility's care.

Kelly Storms, 20, of Mullica Hill Road in Mullica Hill, admitted
she used her body to pin down a 14-year-old autistic boy and put her hands
around his throat, said Assistant Camden County Prosecutor Donna Spinosi. The
abuse occurred Jan. 19, and Bancroft subsequently fired Storms.

A plea agreement between Spinosi and defense attorney Richard
Friedman includes a recommended sentence of two years' probation. She'd also be
barred from working with children while on probation, under the agreement.
Superior Court Presiding Criminal Judge Linda G. Baxter scheduled Storms'
sentencing for Oct. 18.

TRENTON, NEW JERSEY--The death of a teenager has prompted a
lawmaker to introduce a law prohibiting the use of restraints and seclusion --
except in the most extreme circumstances -- in state-funded institutions
housing people with developmental disabilities and traumatic brain injury.

Assemblyman Eric Munoz, M.D., announced last week that he will
push for the restraint law, to be known as "Matthew's Law" for a 14-year-old
with autism who died earlier this year.

On February 5, Matthew Goodman was rushed to Children's Hospital
in Philadelphia from The Lindens, a Bancroft School in Haddonfield, New Jersey.
The next day Matthew died of pneumonia, respiratory distress and blood
poisoning. The facility is under scrutiny by New Jersey authorities because of
Matthew's death and unrelated complaints.

Munoz explained that under Matthew's Law people in state-funded
facilities could only be restrained or secluded as a last resort. The person's
parents or guardians would need to approve the techniques, which could only be
applied to the person for one hour at a time. Also, professionals would have to
develop less restrictive alternatives for the person.

"We have learned that Matthew was placed in restraints to control
his behavior. But these restraints were not just placed on his head and arms
during the daytime; he also slept with them on. In addition, his mother
repeatedly found him asleep on the floor, sleep caused by Matthew being
overmedicated. This standard practice of using medication as a restraint must
cease in New Jersey," said Assemblyman Munoz.

Matthew's mother, Janice Roach, believes the institution's use of
restraint and sedation weakened her son's immune system and led directly to his
death.

The state sent a letter to Roach last month, detailing how
Bancroft staff failed to remove restraints and a helmet while Matthew slept;
how one staff member held the teen in a restaint while dragging him to a
restroom; how another staff member rested her foot on Matthew's chest for a few
seconds; and how Matthew was often left unattended.

"I commend Assemblyman Munoz for bringing this issue to the light
of day and thank him and his excellent staff for proposing Matthew's Law,"
Roach said.

Matthew was placed six years ago in the Bancroft institution
which housed 60 children with "severe behavior disorders". Two years ago he was
made to wear stiff arm restraints designed to keep him from hurting himself.
Visitors to the facility said they often saw the teen restrained or on strong
medications designed to control his behavior.

A vigil will be held at the statehouse in Trenton on the morning
of October 7, the day Munoz is to introduce the measure to the Legislature.

The national disability organization TASH is asking those who are
committed to eliminating the "inappropriate and dangerous use of restraints" to
join local advocates in supporting the measure.

"A show of support is needed!" wrote TASH executive director
Nancy R. Weiss in a statement.

HADDONFIELD,
NEW JERSEY--Bancroft Neurohealth was notified on Wednesday that that it has two
weeks to clean up its act or have its New Jersey operations turned over to an
independent party.

Bancroft provides services to over 1,000 people with developmental
and other disabilities in five states, including New Jersey.

Earlier this year the state of New Jersey fined Bancroft $127,000
-- the largest amount the state has ever charged against a long-term care
facility. Bancroft was cited because it violated residents' rights, put their
mental and physical health at risk, failed to report dozens of incidents
involving abuse or neglect, and failed to contact medical personnel during a
medical emergency.

Even though the facility has received direct assistance from the
state Department of Human Services, it continues to be out of compliance with
regulations, officials said.

Bancroft has until January 2 to fully comply. If it does not, the
state will file an application for receivership with the New Jersey Superior
Court, which could appoint an independent party to run the facility.

Meanwhile, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office is still
investigating the February 6 death of Bancroft resident Matthew Goodman.
Fourteen-year-old Matthew, who had autism, died of pneumonia, respiratory
distress and blood poisoning. Investigators later learned that he had been
over-medicated and improperly restrained while at The Lindens, a Bancroft
facility for youths with "severe behavior problems".

His death and the restraint-related deaths of others who have died
while in New Jersey institutions have prompted lawmakers to introduce two
measures -- one dubbed "Matthew's Law" -- that would regulate the use of
physical and mechanical restraints. A public hearing on those proposed laws is
set for January 16 at the state capital.

TRENTON, NEW JERSEY--After hearing seven hours of intense testimony
Thursday, the state Assembly Health and Human Services and Regulatory Oversight
Committees approved a bill that would limit -- but not eliminate -- the use of
physical and mechanical restraints on people with developmental disabilities
and brain injuries.

The measure allows restraints as part of a planned intervention,
and only with approval by a parent, a doctor and a county-based human rights
committee. The restraints would be limited to one hour and a physician would
have to examine the person within 24 hours.

"Matthew's Law", a tougher bill that would have banned the use of
restraints, was rejected by the committees after a number of parents testified
that such procedures benefited their children.

That bill was named for Matthew Goodman, a 14-year-old with
autism, who died last February after being restrained several days in a New
Jersey institution for children with "severe behavior disorders". The state
Division of Developmental Disabilities determined that Matthew was abused by a
regimen of arm restraints that left him immobile most of his day and at night.
The Camden County Prosecutor's Office has found no evidence that the staff
intentionally harmed Matthew.

One lawmaker tried to appease Matthew's parents by offering to
call the compromise bill "Matthew's Law", because of the advocacy work done by
Roach.

After the compromise bill was passed, a clearly disappointed
Janice Roach said, "I'm hoping our efforts have and will continue to teach New
Jersey a lesson on how restraints are not treatment, and that the lesson will
continue to spread across the nation."

More hearings are to come to discuss treatment for people with
mental retardation in state-run and state-licensed facilities.

TRENTON, NEW JERSEY--Supporters of "Matthew's Law" say they are not
ready to give up their fight after a legislative committee did a "bait and
switch" on the important human rights bill last week.

Last Thursday, a state Senate and General Assembly committee was
to hold public hearings on "Matthew's Law Limiting The Use of Restraints",
otherwise known as Assembly Bill No. 2855, which Assemblymen Eric Munoz and Guy
Gregg introduced last October.

The law was named for Matthew Goodman, a 14-year-old with autism
who died last February following several months of mechanical and chemical
restraints in a New Jersey residential facility. The bill would have strongly
limited the use of restraints and other aversive practices on adults and
children with developmental disabilities and brain injuries to emergency
situations only. It had been drafted with substantial input from parents and
other advocates concerned about the number of injuries and deaths related to
the use and overuse of such restraints in facilities across the state.

It would have applied to all private and publicly-funded
facilities.

One of those testifying was Janice Roach, Matthew's mother.
Another was Rick Tallman, a Trenton resident whose 12-year-old son, Jason, died
just two days after being placed at a Pennsylvania residential treatment
facility in May 1993.

Others included representatives from disability-related
organizations such as The Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities of the
Robert Woods Johnson Medical School, New Jersey Protection and Advocacy,
Cerebral Palsy of New Jersey, The Statewide Parent Advocacy Network of New
Jersey (SPAN), New Jersey TASH, and The Family Alliance to Stop Abuse and
Neglect.

But when the advocates arrived to testify, they learned that A2855
had been substituted -- just two days earlier -- with A2849, a "compromise
bill" that looked nothing like the original. The bill would change very little,
according to those who had supported the original measure.

After seven hours of heart-wrenching testimony the committee went
ahead and passed the compromise bill. Then sponsors of the compromise measure
offered to name it "Matthew's Law".

Roach turned down the offer. In a statement released Wednesday,
Roach said she would not lend her son's name to a bill that she believes would
"perpetuate the suffering he endured."

Following the committee's vote, Assemblymen Munoz and Gregg
demanded that their names be removed from A2849.

"The die was already cast, the decision pre-determined, the
hearing just for show," said Diana Autin, Executive Co-Director of The
Statewide Parent Advocacy Network of New Jersey (SPAN). "We stand with
thousands of parents, advocates, and children, youth, and adults with
disabilities today in expressing our disappointment in the Committee substitute
bill allowing the continued use of restraints and aversives in New Jersey's
public and private institutions."

"But we will not mourn, we will organize!" Autin added. "And
Matthew's Law will become law,"

Roach is determined to make sure no more children die like her
son.

"Then Matthew's death will not be in vain," said Roach. "We
parents will never give up until Matthew's Law is passed."

TRENTON, NEW JERSEY--An investigation by New Jersey's Division of
Youth and Family Services released last week has concluded that Matthew
Goodman, 14, was not medically neglected, nor did his treatment in a non-profit
institution cause his death one year ago.

The DYFS report is in such sharp contrast with one done six months
ago by the Division of Developmental Disabilities that officials with the
state's Department of Human Services want to see if DYFS did a "thorough and
complete" investigation.

Matthew, who had autism, was a resident at The Lindens, an
institution for youths with developmental disabilities run by Bancroft
Neurohealth Inc. of Haddonfield, New Jersey. He died at a nearby hospital on
February 6, 2002 of pneumonia, acute respiratory distress and a blood
infection.

Matthew's parents claim that the excessive use of restraints and
heavy medication at Lindens weakened his immune system. They pointed to
evidence that Matthew was placed in restraints for hours at a time -- even
overnight -- along with a medical report that showed the teen lost 23 pounds in
the final six days of his life.

The DDD investigation last summer concluded that Matthew had been
abused and neglected in the month before he died, but it did not connect that
mistreatment with his death. Last month, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office
determined after its own investigation that Bancroft was not criminally
responsible for his death.

"These were two different investigations, all under the umbrella
of the Department of Human Services, that were totally different," said Janice
Roach, Matthew's mother. "I'm just stunned." Roach has been advocating for
"Matthew's Law" a measure that would ban the use of restraints except in
emergency situations.

Assistant Human Services Commissioner Arburta Jones, who oversees
the Department of Human Services' new Program Integrity and Accountability
Office, last week ordered an investigation into the DYFS report because it
differs so much from the DDD report.

Pam Ronan, a spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services,
said one problem was that DDD used Bancroft's own guidelines and standards,
while DYFS used the state definition of abuse and neglect.

Matthew's death prompted Assemblyman Eric Munoz to co-sponsor a
measure that would have eliminated the use of restraints to punish people with
disabilities in private and public facilities. The language in the bill was
rejected last month by a legislative committee and substituted with much more
lenient guidelines.